


Grandson of Skywalker

by jp2187



Series: Anakin Happy Ending AU [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, And a happy ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anisoka, Birth complications, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Past Anidala
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23948776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jp2187/pseuds/jp2187
Summary: “Will Luke and Uncle Obi-Wan be there?” Rex asked as the next child to wander into the cockpit.“Not for another few days, Rex,” Ahsoka told her eldest son, and he wandered back out again.“-Because they, unlike some people, are respecting Leia’s specific request for them to arrive after Ben is born . . .” she hissed in her husband’s direction.“Yeah, Leia is deluding herself if she thought that was ever going to happen,” he replied.“Anakin, sometimes you are the most overbearing, overprotective-” Ahsoka began.“Oh, now only sometimes? Why thank you, Snips,” Anakin shot back.Anakin & Co. arrive on Chandrila to await the birth of his first grandchild.Sequel to “The Last Argument” and “Return of a Different Jedi.”  Can be read as a stand alone, but will make a bit more sense after reading the others first (especially “Return of a Different Jedi”).
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker/Ahsoka Tano, Leia Organa & Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Anakin Happy Ending AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1462576
Comments: 20
Kudos: 145





	Grandson of Skywalker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OgamiRei7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OgamiRei7/gifts), [emiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emiri/gifts), [Runereader](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runereader/gifts), [PandaTheAsexualPandaThePansexualPanda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaTheAsexualPandaThePansexualPanda/gifts).



> Thank you so much to all my awesome readers!

“Dad, are we there yet?” Plo asked.

“Not too much longer before we drop out of lightspeed . . . Do you want to disengage the hyperdrive again?” Anakin asked his son.

“Sure,” Plo replied with considerably less excitement than on his first flight off Tatooine.

“My how quickly the novelty of space travel wears off,” Ahsoka observed from the copilot’s seat.

“No kidding,” Anakin replied.

“Will Luke and Uncle Obi-Wan be there?” Rex asked as the next child to wander into the cockpit.

“Not for another few days, Rex,” Ahsoka told her eldest son, and he wandered back out again.

“-Because they, unlike _some people_ , are respecting Leia’s _specific_ request for them to arrive _after_ Ben is born . . .” she hissed in her husband’s direction.

“Yeah, Leia is deluding herself if she thought that was ever going to happen,” he replied.

“Anakin, sometimes you are the most overbearing, overprotective-” Ahsoka began.

“Oh, now only _sometimes_? Why thank you, Snips,” Anakin shot back.

They were saved from a renewal of full scale bickering about their current disagreement, however, by their youngest daughter’s sudden appearance.

“Mom! I’m cold!” Shaak announced.

“Come here sweetheart,” Ahsoka said, pulling the little girl into her lap.

Wrapping her arms around her daughter, Ahsoka limited her response to a brief glare that Anakin pretended to ignore.

As they dropped into normal space to orbit Chandrila, Anakin activated his com to alert the residents of their impending arrival.

Leia did not answer . . . and neither did Han . . . or Winter.

“I think Leia is hoping that if no one answers you will turn around and go home,” Ahsoka commented.

Threepio, however, had apparently not gotten the memo.

“Master Anakin, good gracious!-”

“Threepio, we’re orbiting Chandrila and will be landing soon,” Anakin announced before abruptly switching off.

After providing notice of questionable adequacy of their arrival, he began the descent through Chandrila’s atmosphere.

His wife renewed her glare as the spaceport came into view.

“Anakin, don’t you _dare_ crash-land this ship with our kids on board,” Ahsoka declared—as she had the last several times their family took a trip off Tatooine.

“Ahsoka, I am not crash-landing the ship,” Anakin replied somewhat exasperated, “Not unless there is some strange unforeseen circumstance that requires me to do so, or there’s a major malfunction with the engine or the landing gear.”

“Anakin!” Ahsoka yelled.

“I’m joking, Snips,” he retorted.

She crossed her arms and again glared back at him—fully aware that was only partially true.

They finally touched down on Chandrila, and Anakin made a show of setting the ship down with exaggerated gentleness.

Upon disembarking the pair saw that Leia, Han, Winter, and Threepio were all there to greet them.

“Dad, what a surprise,” Leia said appearing to be more annoyed than surprised, “We weren’t expecting you for a few more days.”

“And yet, the guest rooms are already made up,” Han said a bit dryly, before glancing over at Leia—with a look of gloating plastered on his face of one who has just won a bet.

The adults were saved from anymore awkward exchanges, however, by the youngest Skywalker’s eager greeting.

“Leia!” Shaak cried as she ran towards her older sister.

Her face breaking into a genuine smile, Leia bent down to embrace the little girl.

“I missed you so much!” Shaak said into Leia’s stomach, after managing to fling her arms around her sister’s large middle.

“Me too, Shaak,” Leia said, with tears springing into her eyes.

Taking her younger sister by the hand, Leia led the rest of her family to the transport waiting to take them all back to her and Han’s suite.

Once they arrived, Leia and Winter eagerly showed the nursery to Ahsoka and Shaak, and the boys quickly went off to play. This left Anakin to make awkward small talk with Han. Their conversation soon got even more awkward when Threepio entered the room and attempted to join them.

Mercifully, it was soon dinnertime, and afterwards since they were all tired everyone quickly turned in.

\-----------------

In the middle of the night, however, Anakin awoke with a start. Unsure why the Force had woken him, he reached out and began to assess his family’s wellbeing.

As usual, Ahsoka was asleep on his chest. With her long lekku spilling over to rest against his sides and her hands lightly clasping his shirt, she was sound asleep and purring softly.

In the next room over Rex, Plo, and Shaak were also in deep sleep.

Leia, Ben, and the vague roguish sense he had come to associate with Han, however, were no longer in the apartment. It did not take much of his powers of deduction to figure out where they had gone.

Unfortunately, there was no way for him to get up without waking Ahsoka. With the hand that was sandwiched between her back and third lek he gently roused her.

“Where are you going, Anakin?” Ahsoka asked sleepily as she slid off him.

“Medical,” he told her as he rose to standing.

“Leia is _not_ going to be happy with you,” Ahsoka pointedly told him.

Anakin did not reply as he pulled his tunic over his sleeping clothes.

_Yeah, well sometimes things don’t go smoothly._

He had not meant for the thought to slip out of his carefully constructed barriers . . . but it had.

Hoping it had gone unnoticed, Anakin looked over at Ahsoka to find a pair of wide-awake blue eyes staring intensely at him. As usual she missed nothing, and with her glimpse had likely seen more behind his mental blockade than just the one thought.

As Ahsoka watched Anakin silently pulling on his boots, concern welled up in her.

They had been married for over fifteen years and been inseparable for a lot longer than that . . . but there had been a gap. Several painful years that neither of them liked to think about.

And during that gap Anakin had lost Padmé while she gave birth to the twins.

Ahsoka recalled he had been a bit of a nervous wreck when Rex was born—in hindsight likely more than he let on. But Obi-Wan had been there to steady him, and he had made it through. Furthermore, the only eventful thing that ever happened when Ahsoka went into labor was the arrival of a healthy baby, and by the time Shaak was born his anxiety had quelled considerably.

But Anakin was apparently feeling much more keenly a connection between his daughter—Padmé’s daughter—having a baby and his first wife’s death.

Ahsoka finally understood what they were doing here—simultaneously wishing he had confided his fears to her and knowing she should have figured it out.

“Do you want me to come with you?” she asked.

“We had long trip, Snips—get some sleep,” Anakin replied before adding lightly, “And by this point I am sufficiently accustomed to bearing the full brunt of Leia’s wrath.”

And as Anakin expected, Ahsoka was right.

Leia was _not_ happy to sense him outside the birthing room.

Being in the middle of labor, furthermore, was not a sufficient enough inducement for her to refrain from arguing with her father through the Force.

_“How could you?”_ Leia demanded.

_“I am waiting outside,”_ Anakin replied, pointing to his token consideration for her privacy.

_“I wanted you to wait_ off the planet! _Why can’t you ever do anything I ask?!”_ she shot back.

_“I am waiting outside,”_ Anakin repeated, this time with unyielding stubbornness.

Leia deliberately ended their conversation with the same force with which she previously used to slam her bedroom door in his face.

Leaning his back against the wall next to the door, Anakin found his hands involuntarily clenching into fists. Not for the first time, he lamented the long duration of the birthing process. Doing his best to regulate his breathing and avoid the onset of a full-scale panic attack, Anakin finally admitted to himself that declining Ahsoka’s offer to come with him had been a mistake.

Finally, however, Ben’s cries could be heard from within the room, and Leia appeared to be well. Breathing soon became easier as Anakin felt his anxiety began to subside.

His relief, however, was premature.

Because while Leia was fine . . . suddenly Ben wasn’t.

“Wait—his vitals are dropping!”

The door to the birthing room was abruptly thrown open as more personnel rushed in to help . . . and Anakin could now hear everything going on as clear as a bell.

“He stopped breathing!”

“No, no, NO!” Leia cried.

“We’re losing him!”

“BEN!” Leia yelled.

The rhythmic beeps of a monitored heartbeat were suddenly replaced by the sicken sound of a monotone flatline.

While it was clear the doctors and MD droids were doing all they could, nothing was working. The team finally had to resign itself to their failure.

“He’s gone.”

Someone turned off the heart monitor, and a stunned silence filled the room.

With her unshakable stubbornness, however, Leia refused to accept that her son was really gone.

And while Leia spent most of her time slapping it away, in a crisis there was only one hand she reached for.

“DAD— _DO SOMETHING!!_ ” Leia screamed.

Anakin was already moving into the room before his daughter finished speaking, and with a sense of hysteria that was quickly rising to rival hers, the Force user rushed towards his newborn grandson.

Anakin’s hand looked massive as he laid it on top of the tinny infant.

Ben was visibly not breathing and blue.

Anakin reached out to his grandson through the Force, and was relieved to quickly find Ben’s life force.

It was strong and blazing with Light . . .

But was currently being enveloped by a malevolent darkness.

Anakin just managed to grab a hold on his grandson’s life force before the darkness completely consumed him—and struggled with all his might to pry Ben loose.

Ben’s life force, however, was slipping away from him.

Anakin fought on, but despair began filling his heart as his hold was seconds away from failing completely.

Suddenly, however, there was a new burst of Light present in the struggle, and Anakin felt Ahsoka’s hand cover his own.

Together they seized a firmer grip on Ben and pulled . . . until in a scream of rage the darkness relinquished its hold and disappeared.

Beneath their hands Ben abruptly took a deep breath and began to wail.

Anakin picked up his grandson and carefully transferred him into Leia’s arms.

“Oh, thank you . . . thank you!” his daughter said through her tears, her gaze becoming transfixed on her infant son who was once again alive. Leia clutched Ben soothingly to her chest, and both of their tears began to subside.

Anakin caressed the side of his daughter’s head before stepping away. His eyes fell on his son-in-law, and Anakin exchanged a silent nod with a visibly shaken Han. Wanting to give the new parents time alone with their new son, the former Jedi then left the room.

Ahsoka followed him out into the hall—as she had to the birthing ward.

Anakin had told her to stay behind and get some sleep, but Ahsoka still only listened to him when she wanted to—much to his present relief.

“What was that?” Ahsoka asked with a shudder, “It felt so evil.”

“Like Palpatine but different,” Anakin agreed.

“Is it gone?” she asked.

“For now,” he replied.

“Why in the galaxy would it go after Ben?” she continued.

“Because of his Force gift,” Anakin told her bluntly.

“You said you thought he was going to be stronger in the Force than Luke—maybe even as strong as you . . .” Ahsoka recalled.

“Yes . . . Guess I wasn’t the only one to figure that out,” he replied as calmly as possible.

“But why target a baby? I don’t understand,” Ahsoka pressed, still visibly confused.

“Because he’s my grandson,” Anakin told her flatly, and his eyes suddenly appeared much older and more careworn than usually.

Ahsoka’s own eyes filled with deep sorrow at the reminder of the great burden and vulnerability that came with being Anakin Skywalker—not only for himself, but for his children and now his grandson.

That he was overprotective because he had to be.

Ahsoka reached a hand up and caressed his face, sending all the love and support she could to him through their bond in the Force—her own reminder that although his burdens were heavy he did not carry them alone.

Anakin covered her hand with one of his own and turned his face to kiss her palm, before turning back and pressing her hand more firmly into his cheek.

For a long time they stayed that way, just staring at each other unmoving.

“I need to stay here,” Anakin finally said, “And while I would love nothing more than to have you with me, it would probably be better if Threepio isn’t the only one there when the kids wake up.”

She nodded in reluctant agreement and said, “I’ll bring them back with me in the morning.”

Ahsoka then rose up on her toes to kiss him, and when she pulled away she swept her thumb across his cheek before taking back her hand.

At the turn in the long hall she looked back—checking to make sure he had not changed his mind. He gave her a reassuring smile, and she left to make her way back to the rest of their family.

Not wanting to intrude on his daughter and son-in-law’s time with their new son, Anakin nonetheless moved to stand guard outside their room—beginning his unsleeping vigil that he knew would last the remainder of the night.

Soon Winter emerged from the room.

“Leia bade me return home until morning,” Winter said with her usual Alderaanian formality, “Can I get you anything before I leave?”

“No, thank you for asking Winter. I’m fine,” Anakin replied.

The young woman, however, returned a few minutes later with a cup of steaming caf.

“Thank you Winter. This was very thoughtful of you,” Anakin said.

With a nod and a smile she then left him to mull over the disconcerting recent events, and the revelation that somewhere out there Anakin had a powerful new enemy. But Ben was thankfully safe, and as Anakin had told Ahsoka the battle was won for now—and whatever shadowy war was coming seemed to be a ways off.

Anakin had just taken the last sip of caf when he felt his daughter reaching out to him through the Force.

_“You can come in,”_ Leia said.

Anakin silently reentered the room.

The shade of the room’s large window had been raised, and moonlight spilled in to the otherwise darkened room. In the dim light, Anakin saw than Han was completely passed out on a nearby couch. Leia, however, was wide-awake and gently rocking Ben.

“How is he?” Anakin asked softly.

“Sleeping. I just fed him,” Leia said quietly, as she looked down adoringly at her son’s tiny face.

“Do you want to hold him?” she asked her father.

“I would love to,” he replied.

Leia carefully passed the sleeping baby into his arms, and Anakin looked down—himself becoming transfixed by Ben.

By that point in his life Anakin had held many a newborn baby—and knew it never got old. Beyond that, holding his _grandson_ was an experience filled with a whole new level of wonder.

“Dad . . . are you disappointed I didn’t name him after you?” Leia asked with uncharacteristic hesitancy.

Anakin looked up to meet her gaze.

“Leia, I never expected you to name your son after me—we just don’t have that kind of relationship,” he replied before answering lightly, “Besides ‘Anakin Solo’ has a truly terrible ring to it.”

They both briefly looked over at Han. The former smuggler’s mouth hung open in sleep and he was drooling on the plastic sofa.

“I’m sorry,” she said, genuine remorse filling her voice.

“It’s not your fault, Leia. It’s just the way it is,” Anakin said soothingly.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been amazed at how much you’ve learned over the last nine months,” she responded.

“Haha,” Anakin replied dryly, as he again looked down at his sleeping grandson.

A comfortable silence descended on the room, until Leia finally broke it.

“Dad-” Leia whispered.

Anakin returned his gaze to her and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“I hope he’s just like you—strong, and kind, and dependable,” she said.

Anakin smiled back, and in the moonlight Leia thought his eyes were suddenly a bit glassy.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Comments and kudos much appreciated!
> 
> I am continually blown away by the support for to this series. Thank you all so much.
> 
> Also, this is not the end. Working on the next installment now (feel free to subscribe to the series to get update notifications).
> 
> I will definitely need something to take the edge off after the last episode of the Clone Wars T_T


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